The University of Arizona Teaching Pavilion is an outdoor classroom commissioned by the Pima County Cooperative Extensions Program used to teach desert appropriate landscaping and gardening technologies, informing the public on desert resources, the fertility of the desert soil, the preciousness of water, and the uniqueness of desert dwelling.

The Teaching Pavilion forms the center of the demonstration gardens and is infused with the principles and symbols of the learning center’s mission to educate through exploration and discovery. The pavilion serves as a multi-functional space used for a range of functions as varied as a 4-H competition or a wedding celebration. This open-air structure seats approximately 134 people with a raised stage area.

A landscape learning center with a gathering space made from the dirt upon which it sits, the structure’s rammed earth walls symbolically grow out of the gardens.

The inverted, asymmetric pyramidal roof form both collects water, and induces a convective airflow - as hot air rises, it escapes through the space between the walls and roof, drawing cooled air in from the gardens.

The roof’s large open span lends a sense of weightlessness that contrasts with the solid density of the walls. Four sets of trellis-like sliding gates cover the four twelve-foot wide openings. Each side of the pavilion can be opened or closed to control the ideal amount of sun, light, and wind.

The corners of the Teaching Pavilion are aligned to the cardinal directions. When facing the speaker, the guests’ views are directed towards the open gateways - to the Northeast the view is directed at a backdrop of the Santa Catalina Mountains.

Directly above the lecturing area, the focus of the interior is the “rain catcher”, a custom funnel made of welded steel plate. It waits overhead; ready to gather the rain as it falls through the inward-sloped roof, a present reminder of the importance of rain in the desert.

The University of Arizona Teaching Pavilion is an outdoor classroom commissioned by the Pima County Cooperative Extensions Program used to teach desert appropriate landscaping and gardening technologies, informing the public on desert resources, the fertility of the desert soil, the preciousness of water, and the uniqueness of desert dwelling.

The Teaching Pavilion forms the center of the demonstration gardens and is infused with the principles and symbols of the learning center’s mission to educate through exploration and discovery. The pavilion serves as a multi-functional space used for a range of functions as varied as a 4-H competition or a wedding celebration. This open-air structure seats approximately 134 people with a raised stage area.

A landscape learning center with a gathering space made from the dirt upon which it sits, the structure’s rammed earth walls symbolically grow out of the gardens.

The inverted, asymmetric pyramidal roof form both collects water, and induces a convective airflow - as hot air rises, it escapes through the space between the walls and roof, drawing cooled air in from the gardens.

The roof’s large open span lends a sense of weightlessness that contrasts with the solid density of the walls. Four sets of trellis-like sliding gates cover the four twelve-foot wide openings. Each side of the pavilion can be opened or closed to control the ideal amount of sun, light, and wind.

The corners of the Teaching Pavilion are aligned to the cardinal directions. When facing the speaker, the guests’ views are directed towards the open gateways - to the Northeast the view is directed at a backdrop of the Santa Catalina Mountains.

Directly above the lecturing area, the focus of the interior is the “rain catcher”, a custom funnel made of welded steel plate. It waits overhead; ready to gather the rain as it falls through the inward-sloped roof, a present reminder of the importance of rain in the desert.